A jewellery design lecturer at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol has successfully grown a full-size ruby inside a platinum setting. Sofie Boons developed a new chemical process that triggers the growth of a tiny fragment of real ruby as it sits in its jewellery. The University believes this approach, dubbed the “in situ process,” has never been achieved before. By starting with a seed taken from leftover gemstone offcuts, Boons placed the fragment into a platinum setting and then used a chemical agent called a “flux.”
Removing the existing precious stone from jewellery jewellery can be a remarkably intricate job even with it being so small. However, Boons has created a technique that obviates that requirement entirely. The flux lowers the temperature which, in turn, enables growth in the gem, enabling a full-sized gemstone to multiply. These gems usually grow in a furnace, so they are grown from pieces of waste gem material, obviating the need for prospecting for gems, which, if done unsustainably, affects the environment. Gems grown in labs require a lot of energy, however.
Boons is looking for ways to shorten the time process to make it more sustainable, as it currently takes around 5-50 hours to grow a ruby in the furnace. The extension of the experimentation could see more environmentally-friendly gems. The project has now drawn a second phase of funding, with the University of Bristol joining to research and develop more gemstones. Nevertheless, the project undeniably challenges the notion of man-made gemstones being synthetic, since the slightly unpredictable growth displays natural facets. According to contemporary jewellery designer Rebecca Enderby, lab-grown gemstones are not artificial and mimic what grows over thousands of years in the earth, providing an more affordable alternative to mined stones
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